French fried potato strips, commonly referred to as "French fries" are one of the most popular convenience foods and are served in most fast food restaurants. Most restaurants including large restaurants prefer to prepare the French fries from a frozen or chilled partially fried potato product (hereinafter par-fried) rather then go through the procedure of preparing French fries from raw potatoes. These par-fried potatoes are converted into finished French fries, that are ready to eat, by completion of the cooking process in the fast food restaurant.
Typically the cooking process involves dispensing a large bag of par-fries into a deep fryer using hot oil to finish cooking the fries. After the fries have been deep fried they are removed from the hot oil and the excess oil is drained off of the French fries. While the excess oil is being drained, salts or seasonings are typically sprinkled onto the French fries manually from a salt shaker by an employee of the restaurant. Thereafter, the fries are scooped up and placed into individual serving sized containers by the restaurant employee. One of the problems with cooking French fries in this manner is that this process is labor intensive. Another problem with cooking French fries in this manner is that it uses a large quantity of oil. Additionally, the taste and flavor of the french fries can vary depending on many factors such as, the number of cycles between changes of the hot oil, the amount of salt or seasoning the employee sprinkles onto the fries, or the duration of time the fries have been sitting after frying has been completed.
Some restaurant operators have attempted to address these problems by using oven cooking techniques. One major problem confronted by these restaurant operators is obtaining oven cooked fries which have the taste and texture of french fries cooked by frying in hot oil. Important features of French fries cooked by a deep frying process are interior moistness, crispness of the outer crust, slightly oily surface texture, and enhanced flavor or taste. However heretofore, achieving these product characteristics generally has not been possible when the food products are oven cooked. Most oven cooked products are typically tough, dry, and less lubricious than food products cooked by frying in hot oil.
All of these aforementioned problems are recognized by the consumer and, more particularly, by the fast food restaurant operators. As a result fast food restaurants seldom practice/use oven cooking techniques for preparing par-fried food products.